Bereket Regassa

Hawassa collage of Health sciences, Basic Sciences department, Hawassa, Ethiopia,

berujose@yahoo.com

HOUSING AND POVERTY IN SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA:

EXAMINING AFFORDABILITY OF CONDOMINIUM HOUSES IN HAWASSA CITY

Nigatu Regassa

University of Saskatchwan, Saskatoon, Saskathewan,

negyon @yahoo.com

Abstract. This study is aimed at examining the extent of affordability of condominium houses using shelter- poverty approach in one of the fast growing cities of Ethiopia, Hawassa city administration. The data were collected from a representative sample of 180 households drawn from the study population, using a combination of simple random and multistage sampling techniques. Shelter-poverty approach was used to measure affordability of condominium houses, and the key predictors of affordability were identified using Ordinary Least Square regression model. The analysis revealed that

61.7 percent of the household in the study area  were shelter poor (spent more than 30 percent of their monthly income on housing expenses) and the remaining 38.3 percent are non-shelter poor. The major housing problems that resulted in shelter-poverty were choosing condominium as rental houses, low household income, high housing and non-housing expenses, large household size, high rental/mortgage cost, changes of housing and non-housing costs, short duration for making down payments, and problems related to bank loans.

Finally, the study recommended that the concerned authorities introduce workable, consistent and solid affordability indices (combining the conventional and shelter-poverty approaches) that accommodate  the different social and economic groups of the city, and create enabling environment for the beneficiaries to get access to credit and bank loans.

Received: May, 2015

1st Revision: June, 2015

Accepted: September, 2015

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2015/8-3/12

JEL Classification: I32

Keywords: Affordability, shelter- poverty, condominium, housing, conventional measures.